


Three Phone Calls

by RayneSummer



Category: Uncharted (Video Games)
Genre: F/M, though theyre not actually in the fic.., well technically they are in the plot and story
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-25
Updated: 2016-06-25
Packaged: 2018-07-18 06:18:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,077
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7302943
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RayneSummer/pseuds/RayneSummer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Sorry, I gotta go – uh, Jameson’s calling me over.”<br/>“…Okay.”<br/>Liar, liar, Elena’s mind chanted. But that wasn’t the worst thing; it was almost wrecking her to not know exactly why her husband was lying. And after all their years, that fact struck her cold.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. #1

The first one was like any other.

"Hello?" She answered, picking up her ringing phone from the counter, beside where she was about to make some breakfast.

"Hey, hun, it's me," Nate replied, and there was something in his voice that she couldn't quite pinpoint; it sounded like a sorrowful edge of what he 'had' to do. But she wasn't focused on that, and she had no reason to pay attention to it back then.

"Hey!" Elena replied with a smile that Nate could probably hear in her voice.

She wandered over to the cereal cabinet as her husband spoke, but stopped in surprise at what he was saying. "Yeah, listen, you're not gonna believe this... Jameson just walked in here with the permits."

He stumbled over the words but delivered them all the same, only saved from immediately realisation by Elena not being present to see his expression. Then again, if she had been, maybe she would have understood more how desperately sorry it made him.

"No kidding..." She stared aimlessly out the back window-door, a little stunned. Nate had been so sure last night, so sure that he wouldn't take the job 'because of himself' rather than other factors.

But with the permits in hand, Elena guessed the old sense of adventure had flared up and he'd agreed on a whim now it was legal. It made sense. Didn't it?

"Are you sure you want to go for it? You seemed pretty sure you  _weren't_  last night."

She hesitated a bit, not wanting to dampen Nate's enthusiasm, and his answer was as expected, but laced with pause; "Yeah. I know, I know. Yeah... looks like I'm going to take that Malaysia job after all."

There was a silence from both of them, the agony of things unsaid and unrevealed stretched tight, but neither addressing it.

"Are you sure?" Elena asked again anyway, frowning at the kitchen counter as she listened to Nate's hesitation in everything he was saying. It was odd, to say the least, but perhaps he felt a little guilty for denying his interest so strongly last night.

Whatever the reason, if he was happy to go off and do the job, then she wasn't going to keep him back because of a change of heart.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm... I'm sure. Really."

Frankly she felt he'd never sounded less sure in all the time they'd been together, but... well, Elena felt that he deserved the benefit of doubt here, and he clearly wanted to get out, do some travel, stretch his legs so to speak.

"Okay. When are you going?" She asked, idly choosing a cereal from the cupboard as they spoke.

His hesitation was clear through the line and there was a brief silence, though Elena fancied she heard him talking to someone else. Jameson, she supposed, unless someone else was in charge of this one.

"Uh, well, as soon as possible. I'll be home to pack in a bit, alright?"

Elena frowned at the milk in the fridge as she located it for her breakfast. "That quick?" She said, disappointment clear in her voice.

Nate grimaced; she could practically see him looking apologetic and immediately felt a little overbearing. But, really, deciding to go then actually going wasn't all that uncommon for Nate. It was his work that usually kept a good schedule.

"Yeah, uh, sorry, but yeah. And it uh, might take a while," he added, and she could practically hear the wince in his voice.

She settled for sighing, sounding a little defeated. A few days without her husband wasn't going to kill her, after all, it was just going to be a bit lonely. She didn't like lonely. "Okay."

"Yeah-"

"I'll see you soon then, right?"

He smiled at the expectance in her voice, despite the situation. "Right," he confirmed, knowing she was smiling too. "See you in a bit."

Elena hummed in response, juggling her bowl of milk-drenched cereal in her hands on the way to the table a few steps from the kitchen. "Okay," she repeated, and tried to put some different words in her speech, "Don't be long, sweetie."

"Got it." He sounded amused, at least.

She stopped herself sighing again, and instead forced a smile that radiated in her goodbye. "I'll be waiting!"

Nate chuckled quietly for a second before replying 'bye' and disconnecting the call. Elena let out the sigh as she put the phone down next to her cereal bowl, which she stared at rather than was eating, feeling a little forlorn.

Well, it was his job, and he needed a break from routine. Yeah.

She picked up her spoon and began to munch on the cereal. Yeah, she could deal without him for a few days. Just hoped it wouldn't be too long.

* * *

 


	2. #2

He said he’d ring hours ago. She had tried his phone a few times, to no avail; dialling tone had rung in her ear.

But Elena was staying calm. Sure, anything could have happened to her husband, but she was calm.

There was no way to get this far with Nate if one didn’t attempt to remain calm.

And then, finally, her patience wore off – she could literally imagine Nate realising he was meant to call her and pulling out his phone to hastily keep his promise of updates.

Well, the second call wasn’t really the second, but the others were just to say he’d arrived and everything was fine.

Actually talking with her husband for longer than a minute was good.

She quickly fished the vibrating phone out of her pocket, reaching the bottom of the stairs and answering to his greeting eagerly.

“Nate?!”

“Hey, it’s me, yeah.”

She sighed as she walked through the hall towards the main room. “You said you’d ring hours ago, Nate,” she said sternly, but she was a little too pleased and relieved to sound very strict. “You been busy?”

“No, the reception’s lousy,” he replied with every indication of humbly apologising.

“That sucks,” she sympathised, hating it herself when she couldn’t get signal.

He agreed, “Yeah…” and trailed off with a sigh. Elena frowned a little, a feeling nagging at her that something was wrong, or at least ‘off’.

Maybe he was just tired.

“You doing okay over there?” She asked mildly, taking a seat on the sofa in what would seem to an observer to be an uncomfortable position.

Nate huffed a bit, almost in amusement, and she could hear the smile in his voice. “Yeah, fine. Why – you missing me?”

She rolled her eyes but couldn’t help a smile, “well, I got a lovely empty house to myself, so you figure it out.”

“Heh.” His amusement didn’t sound quite genuine now, and she knew he was missing her too. It made her feel good.

But now the question was of time.

“So uh, any word on heading back over here?”

His grimace was practically auditory. “Actually, uh, the job’s going to take a little longer than expected,” he explained with a wince.

Elena didn’t reply immediately, in an effort to hide some of her disappointment. She hummed a half-hearted reply.

“But as soon as it’s done and finished with, I’m coming right back,” Nate said quickly, and she nodded to herself.

“Heh. You’d better.”

There was a slight creak on his end and as she opened her mouth to ask, he supplied the answer, “I’m just leaning on the balcony,” he explained, “the, um, guys are inside talking.”

Ah. She couldn’t help a sigh. “Well. I suppose you’d better get back to them.” She didn’t even need to explain how she knew he was meant to be in there with them – though the hours-late call might have something to do with knowing.

He hesitated for a second before reluctantly agreeing. “Yeah, we’re just uh, trying to work something out.”

“And that’s why you sound bothered,” Elena supplied, smiling in expectance of his surprise she could tell.

Nate chuckled for a second; of course his wife could hear him like she could see him. “It’s fine. Like I said, trying to work something out.”

She listened to the pause and imagined him glancing back into whatever room he’d left, having to go and finish the meeting or whatever.

“Okay then.” Elena put some brightness in her voice, though actually she was getting quite lonely and tired of Nate not being around. How long was his job anyway?

“Okay?”

“Mm. Are you sure it’s not going to be one of those jobs that go on and on?”

Apparently he was heading back indoors, since she could make out the sounds of opening a door as Nate replied calmly.

“No, I’ll just see you in a few more weeks?” He phrased it like a question, oddly enough, and Elena raised an eyebrow.

“You sure?” She asked again.

“Yeah.”

“Really?”

“I will!”

She let it go, the smile lessening as they came closer to goodbye. “Just, stay safe, alright?”

His reply was short but similarly sincere, “Okay.”

“Love you,” she said quickly.

Elena could practically hear his smile. “Love you too. Bye.”

And with that, the call disconnected. She allowed herself a pout as she put the phone down and sighed, the feeling of loneliness coming back.

Sure, she was certainly capable of being without him (wasn’t that proven), but in the recent years they’d been together a lot, even when on a job the other would sometimes tag along.

Couldn’t spend all the time together, though. And this was just one of those times.

Elena hummed to cheer herself up as she set about getting up and heading back upstairs to check what work had to be done.

Hopefully Nate was enjoying his work without her more.


	3. #3

The house seemed so empty without Nate.

It had been days – a week or so, in fact – but Elena was determined to wait for him to call her. He had been doing so fairly regularly, even if just to assure her that he was okay.

But tonight, after a day of work, she had stared at the bed sadly and gone downstairs, unwilling to spend another night too small in a too big bed.

Now she was curled up on the sofa, looking quite well snuggled, if it wasn’t for the muted TV being the only light in the dark house. The sun set outside as Elena fiddled around on her laptop, telling herself not to look at the phone.

It wasn’t just the day or so since his last call. It was also the muted television. News of floods in Malaysia. A quick flick through search on her phone agreed, and gave her little details of how bad it was.

Just a monsoon. It was normal there. It wasn’t too bad. Flooding and issues, of course. Normal stuff for them, it had said.

Said phone that she had put screen-down on the coffee table, within sight and sound and reach. Even though she kept telling herself not to get her hopes up for a call tonight.

And so the third call began in low spirits from a shadowed room, missing something vital. Something that belonged there.

Elena saw the phone move slightly out of the corner of her eye. Carefully, she put the laptop down on the other side of the sofa and moved to put her feet on the floor, sitting on the edge as she reached for the phone.

Picking it up, she remembered that it hadn’t been changed from its silent profile based around not wanting to be unnecessarily interrupted while working. Elena vaguely felt she ought to use a different profile instead as she looked at the screen and swiped to answer. “Hey!”

“Hey, Nate?” She moved as she spoke, standing up and starting to walk to the other side of the room. Waiting almost breathlessly for him to reply.

“Hi, honey.”

She let out an audible breath of relief, speaking noticeably quick, “Hi, I’ve been trying to get a hold of you. Are you okay?”

Her question lingered for a second, worry clear in it. Nate’s response, though, was oddly surprised. “Of course, what do you mean?”

“Oh, you know, the news… there’s been all that flooding.” Elena hesitated just slightly, feeling something off. Her steps took her beside the fridge, looking aimlessly out the near window.

Her non-phone hand went on her hip in a normal position as she continued, “Maybe going to Malaysia during the monsoon season wasn’t such a good idea?”

It was meant to be sort of a joke but it came out seriously, with worry, and a small sense of genuine question. The sort of question that went with, ‘who doesn’t notice a monsoon in their current city?’

There was a slight pause before Nate’s slightly nervous reply came through, “Yeah, right…”

He trailed off before adding some more, stumbling a bit over words, as if they were unfamiliar; as if they didn’t actually apply.

“Right. Yeah, it uh- it grounded us for sure, you know…” Another second pause, as if he was momentarily distracted, “Had some equipment failure… but you know no one’s hurt or anything.”

Of everything, the last sentence was the only one spoken with any confidence. Elena bit her lip; she wished she could take that at face value, but, god, she knew Nate and this was not Nate reporting a flood in his area.

This was Nate pretending he knew about a flood in his area. This was Nate quickly reminding himself why what he was doing was right.

This was the sort of thing that meant Nate was lying.

“Well, as long as you guys are safe.” She continued to stare at the floor, making her mind blank, discarding the thoughts. It wasn’t prudent to jump to conclusions. They could never afford that and the feeling had stuck.

She took in a short breath that if listened closely enough to, could be a substitute for a sob. “So are you gonna start work tomorrow?” Elena asked, a little too fast, but she had to know.

“Uh,” Nate said, and her heart dropped at that sound. “Postponed, actually. Looks like we’re gonna need another… ten days or so.”

Hesitant. Broken sentence. Elena had raised her head slightly to stare at the wall as she walked back towards the couch, but now she closed her eyes for a moment, tight.

“Ugh, ten days?” Blinking, then opening her eyes again in an idea, “Hey, well…” She was already moving, slowly going to sit back down next to the laptop, as she suggested, “why don’t I just uh, go ahead and buy a ticket then.”

It was questioning when it shouldn’t be, and as broke and unsure as Nate sounded. The whole conversation was wrong and desperate sadness threatened to choke her with possibilities.

Still, Elena let her hand settle on the mouse pad before listening to Nate’s reply. “Oh, you know you don’t have to do that. It’s fine. I mean, you know these guys always overestimate things. I’m sure it’ll be in less time than that.”

False sureness, yes. As he talked, Elena had looked up at the night through the window, moving up a little on the sofa to put her elbow on the top of the seat, letting her arm rest while she listened.

The only word to describe the look on her face at that moment was devastation, clearly shrouded, unsure, unknown, but there. She took a short breath before answering, words thick in her throat, eyes shining but not overspilling.

“Okay, well…” She paused. “Don’t rush, make sure that you’re safe.” The sentiment was meaningful but the meaning was not what she said.

The real meaning was, _Nathan Drake is breaking my heart again._ It said it in every line etched on her expression. Desperate uncertainty silently screaming, _but why?_

“I will. Always do.” He had probably twitched that cocky half-smile; a smile that said more than his demeanour itself.

Elena allowed a brief wait, clenching her jaw just slightly, guarding against clouding emotion. She had to know why. After everything, why?

But now it was going to end, like most of the short others had since he’d left with a fleeting kiss. He had to do what he was there for. And she didn’t know what that was anymore. Or even where ‘there’ was.

“Listen, I’m- I’m sorry I gotta go. Jameson’s calling me over.” There was apology in his voice, realistic exasperation hidden, with a touch of nervousness from the excuse.

She closed her eyes. “Okay,” she barely said over a whisper, and blinked too fast for a second before staring towards the other side of the room again. Although he couldn’t see her, she found herself nodding slowly as a sign of physical reassurance.

“I love you,” Nate stated, sincerity the first pure truth in his words.

Elena allowed herself a fleeting smile. “Love you too.”

Then he was gone.

A frown creased her features, sadness settling in the lines of her face, and Elena blinked as she slowly lowered the phone, tilting it so she could see the screen.

Nate had disconnected, of course, and there was no point staring at a blank screen. She let her hand drop so the brightness shone down at the sofa, not on her face.

New emotions bubbled; anger, loneliness. Her frown became deeper and she stared at the floor sightlessly, trying to figure it out. Trying to work with what she knew of her husband, the man who had been faithfully and continuously by her side these last years.

The man she had trusted again, after everything, eventually.

She knew Nate. She knew how he and Sully interacted and worked – mostly. She knew he wasn’t using himself to his potential here. She knew he had denied even wanting to go anywhere mere hours before insisting he needed to head out.

She knew Nate. And she knew what this was, Elena just didn’t want to believe it, yet, despite everything in her knowing.

Liar, liar, her mind chanted. It was true, she knew it. But that wasn’t the worst thing; it was almost wrecking her to not know why her husband was lying.

And after all their years, that fact struck her cold.

Elena stood up, mindlessly wandering over to the kitchen. She had to know. After everything, she deserved more than to know why.

Why did love always intend to break her heart again.

**Author's Note:**

> I've had this idea for a long time, started writing it last week, did the first bit really quite well, then rushed to finish it tonight bc it's hung around too long. So now the other two bits aren't all that great, especially since I accidently did #3 before #2 bc I forgot abt that one. But anyway, it's done, and it's, well, good enough.  
> Another idea finally written! So many u4 ideas, so little writing going on. Issues.


End file.
